How It Began
by SoManyPuns
Summary: My version of how Chiro met the Hyper force, Rated T for safety.


_January 8, 2016: Ah what the hell, let's make a tradition out of it. Here I am again, looking over this thing. Not gonna promise anything big, probably just going to fix some wording and typos. You will note that now the entirety of How It Began is one document. I figured that if this was going to be a tradition, I'd at least make it easier on myself, but if anyone has issues with the new layout, go ahead and shoot me a note and I'll change it back. _

_EDIT: January 25, 2015. You wanna know who's a looser? Me. You wanna know who's up at midnight rewriting the fanfiction they wrote nearly a __**year**__ after it was published? Me. Not doing much, just fleshing it out, maybe fixing a few details, make it longer. Not a lot changed with this chapter, but the others will probably be longer or something. Enjoy!_

**EDIT: February 18, 2014. Sorry, just fixing the formatting on this chapter.**

**Hello everyone, this is my take on how Chiro met the hyper force, please feel free to tell me if you see any spelling/grammar errors and/or you think a character is OOC. This is my first fanfic so please be gentle. and by the way, I like to think that Shuggazoomian society operates differently than our own, not major things, but it's my personal head cannon that there isn't really a schooling system and kids are just home schooled. As I am one of the many who believe Chiro to be an orphan, this would mean that, of course, he doesn't have to go to school, and he has a lot of free time on his hands. Another one of my head cannons is that Mr. Gackslapper is a refugee from another planet, but, if this all works out, that's a story for another day. Without further ado, here is How it Began:**

_Darkness swallowed the world, an abyss of nothingness surrounding him._

_Chiro ran, what he ran from he didn't know, he didn't want to know, all he knew was fear. It gripped his heart and threatened to destroy him. Laughter rang out, deep and menacing, this was not the carefree laugh of someone finding something humorous, there was no joy, only a promise of something painful._

_A White light burst into being, Chiro felt a bright burst of hope flutter within his chest, and a laugh fought its way to his throat. Feeling his courage return, the boy allowed the sound of joy echo around him as he reached the light, laughing in the face of the darkness. From the light, a silhouette took shape before him, and the evil laughter returned louder than ever. Chiro screamed and tried to pull back from the figure revealed by the light. A skeletal man stood menacingly before him sharp teeth flashing._

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><p>In an abandoned house, a lone boy screamed and struggled against his tangled blankets, his frantic movements soon caused him to crash into the unyielding floor with a loud thump. Chiro sat up, blankets obscuring his left eye. With a sigh, the boy untangled himself from the blankets and threw them with more force than probably necessary and stormed out of the room.<p>

He padded downstairs, though it was still dark as the sun was just barely rising, the boy did not bother to uselessly flick the light switch. In the weeks since his father's death, several of the basic utilities had been shut off, the boy knew he would have to abandon the building at some point, but couldn't bring himself to do it. As he opened a cabinet and pulled out one of the remaining breakfast bars, Chiro thought back to his father.

The man had been a model Shuggazoomian citizen, he never got into anything that wasn't his business, never looked out over the lake and into the zone of wasted years and wondered, never lost himself to daydreams and imagination. Being so, the man had often wondered why his son was almost the exact opposite of him. His gruff voice had often interrupted his lone child's daydreams "Best stick to the real world, son". Chiro's imagination however, refused to be tamed, and the boy still visited other planets and had fantastical adventures in his own mind. After his father's death, Chiro restricted his imagination though, and kept it for only when he had free time, but still held his hope for some unnameable thing.

Finishing his breakfast, Chiro exited the house and made his way down the streets of Shuggazoom, he ducked through alleyways and twisted around corners, running when he felt like it, but often slowing down to catch his breath. He paid little attention to where he was going as his thoughts returned to the dream that had woken him so suddenly. Without really meaning to, he began kicking a can down the street, which now had turned to grass. It rattled before him, pulling him from his thoughts, Chiro began a game with himself, seeing how far he could kick it. So focused was he on this game, he didn't notice when the asphalt of the streets of Shuggazoom turned into untamed grass and the skyscrapers were traded for wild trees. As such, he was entirely unprepared for the abandoned container to clank loudly against metal.

The boy jumped and gave a short cry of surprise, but quickly regained himself when he saw exactly what he had hit. An impossibly large robot loomed before him, casting its shadow over his small figure. Moss and rust clung to its boxy frame, threatening to cover the metal completely. Chiro gasped in shock, and found himself frozen for a moment, almost expecting the colossal being to suddenly come to life and crush him. However, the robot remained in the state of absolute stillness that he had found it in.

Chiro ventured cautiously forward, still not sure if it wouldn't suddenly burst to life, when he had almost convinced himself it wouldn't , it did. The boy scrambled backwards with a shriek as a gaping hole suddenly appeared in the robot's foot, once he had calmed down, he realized that perhaps it wasn't a hole, but a door. Chiro adopted a look of determination and steeled himself to enter the belly of the beast, or the foot of the robot as it were.

Inside the robot was dark, and Chiro moved forward slowly, using the little light that made its way in with him to keep from tripping over whatever might be inside. And then there was darkness, all around him, a loud thud behind him signaled the closing of the door. He cried out and immediately rushed back to where he thought the door was and pounded against it frantically. Once he had exhausted himself and made his throat raw from his screams for help, he slumped to the ground in defeat.

The boy almost began crying from the hopelessness of his situation, but something forced back the tears, told him to stand and venture further into the robot. Chiro felt numb as his body obeyed the will of the mysterious force that drew him forward, it promised warmth and love if only he would follow it, and the tired and weak boy gladly accepted. Chiro walked with confidence in the darkness that surrounded him, not stumbling or falling as he feared he would when he first entered the robot.

He came into a room, he couldn't see anything within it, but it felt larger than the hallway he had previously been in. The boy felt his gaze drawn to one thing, a lever, perhaps a bit too big, but otherwise nondescript sat on a dust covered console that squatted in a shadowed corner of the room. Chiro walked towards it, wondering what it was for, what did it do, what- **Destiny** whispered the voice, **you have a great destiny Chiro, and no matter what, you must fulfill it**. Chiro grasped the lever firmly in his hand, he took a deep breath, and he pushed it forward.

Agony ripped through him, forcing the boy to his knees. A green light surrounded him, and a roar of pure animalistic rage resounded in the room around him, as the pain reached its peak, Chiro's scream joined in the sound as darkness overtook his vision and he fell into the waiting arms of the shadows.

Darkness and silence were all that existed in this realm of sleep, time seemed to slow to a crawl and everything was still. And then there was light, blossoming before him, bringing with it, life and sound, and the hyper force was awoken...

**Part two coming soon.**

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><p><em>Woah, people actually read this thing. you guys have no idea how much inspiration it gives me to see how many of you have looked at this thing. Special thanks to Winterbornbree for being the first reviewer and giving me tips on paragraphing. I honestly expected this to be one of those stories that is never looked at, but I thank each and every one of you for reading this, even if it isn't very good. I of course own none of the characters, I'm only borrowing them and I promise to put them back when I'm done. also, I would have gotten this done sooner but my brother was hogging the desktop computer and so I got stuck with the laptop, which has battery and memory issues so when you unplug the computer it instantly turns off and erases the memory of everything you have done, whether you save it or not, guess who unplugged the computer. *Sigh* so I was set back a good two hours of work, ugh. But here it is regardless, along with a harsh lesson to use my USB...<em>

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><p><em>Antuari's spirit stood before the Power Primate, which appeared to him in the guise of a large green gorilla. <em>**_The time is come my child._**_ Though the gorilla's mouth never moved and the voice seemed to come from everywhere, Antauri knew that he was being spoken to by the Power Primate. _**_The Chosen One has come and the forces of evil gather in the shadows, there are many battles before you young one._**

Antauri found himself back in his body, his limbs returning to life as liquid was drained into the bottom of the tank and the glass raised into the ceiling. The dark furred monkey shook himself lightly, small droplets of liquid flying from his body. Beside him, the rest of the Hyperforce did the same.

Otto immediately began wandering the room, inspecting the robot for damage doubtlessly. While he was not a great mechanical mind like the green monkey, Antauri looked around for any obvious damage to the robot or to the rest of his family, while he found none, he did notice the layers of dust that had settled on every surface.

"How long were we in stasis?" Nova asked quietly, swiping her finger on the wall and coming up with a dirty streak on her finger which she quickly wiped on her fur, never one to be bothered about dirt. Gibson opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Sparx.

"A lot longer than we thought we were gonna be," the red monkey said, scraping dust off of his chair and sitting in it.

"Indeed Sparx, however I could have told you that" Gibson said, obviously miffed at being interrupted. The red and blue monkeys glared at each other, already back to their usual antics, but they were interrupted by Otto's exclamation of surprise from behind the console.

"Um, guys, I think he needs help," the green monkey said uncertainly. The others immediately rushed over to their green brother, Gibson in the lead, prepared to give whatever medical assistance might be needed. But even the blue monkey was surprised by what he found. On the ground lay a human boy who didn't appear to be even 15. The monkeys stood frozen in shock for a moment, prompting Otto to nudge the boy's arm as proof of his next statement, "he's not moving," he fussed, looking to Gibson with pleading eyes. This immediately snapped the medic out of his stupor and he gently pushed Otto to the side and knelt beside the child, placing two fingers on the side of the boy's throat just under his chin.

"He still has a pulse," the medic sighed with relief, "Help me get him to the infirmary." Nova and Otto immediately rushed forward to help Gibson, Antauri and Sparx though, still seemed frozen in surprise, '_or at least Sparx is surprised, who knows what Antauri is thinking_' Gibson though with an internal smile.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Sparx suddenly bust out angrily. Silence followed his shout, as everyone stared at the red monkey. "He's the one who woke us up!?"

Gibson thought for a moment and then answered the incredulous question. "It would appear so, considering his position in relation to the console and the stasis controls, I believe" the science officer was cut off by the pilot's angry tirade.

"So this...this runt is the one who is going to lead us?! He's a Child," he spat, remembering Antuari's words from when they were first going into stasis, that whoever woke them was destined to be their leader.

Antauri stepped forward, finally breaking the silence that he had kept since they had awoken, "It is more than that my friend, I was shown a vision by the Power Primate, he is the Chosen One."

Silence descended on the robot monkeys as they processed this new information "Antauri-" Nova began, only to be cut off by an enraged Sparx.

"WHAT?!" the pilot roared, "We're going to put this boy up against the Skeleton King? He won't last five seconds, he'll either turn and run, or he's gonna end up dead, Antauri." Everyone looked to the second in command, silently agreeing with Sparx's sentiment.

Antauri stepped forward and placed his hand over the boy's heart, green energy flared to life around the pair, "As impossible as it seems, the Power Primate is within him, he is the Chosen One, I have faith in him." the black monkey declared. Nova, Gibson, and Otto looked down at the boy with unreadable expressions, apparently accepting Antauri's word.

"Funny," Sparx growled, moving to stand obstinately in Antauri's path "I don't remember _choosing_ him." Antauri didn't flinch, even though the fiery monkey was well within his personal space, but he also didn't make a move to counter Sparx, so with a final sneer, the pilot stormed from the room.

"Sparx!" Nova snapped at the smooth metal of the door which had closed behind the angry monkey, she took a step towards it, as though she was planning to go after the pilot, but she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder, Antauri stood, reassuringly calm as ever, beside her. The black monkey closed his eyes and shook his head, much to Nova's confusion, "Antauri, he-" she began, only to be cut off by the wise monkey's words.

"This is something that Sparx must work out on his own, he will come back when he is ready, for now we must attend to the boy." The others nodded and once again lifted the boy, now with the help of Antauri and brought him to the medical station.

Sparx paced his room, his face twisted in a snarl and he muttered to himself, tossing in the occasional curse at Antauri, the runt, destiny, the Power Primate, several at the Skeleton King, and anything else that was caught in his ire. Every time he passed a particular spot on the wall he gave it a sound kick and then cursed the renewed pain in his foot.

Eventually he tired of pacing and instead fell backwards to lay spread eagle on his bed, a plume of dust rose from the previously undisturbed surface, making the poor monkey sneeze and cough, eventually the dust resettled around the sputtering monkey. Sparx tried to summon more anger, but found himself simply too emotionally exhausted to do anything but lay numbly on the dusty bed, he sighed and closed his eyes, and without his consent, he passed into sleep.

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><p><em>A green ape stood before him, and though he was no Antauri, Sparx recognized the Power Primate despite the fact that he had never before been visited by the powerful force. A sigh echoed around him <em>_**Sparx, you of all of my children are one of the most difficult.**__ There was loving resignation in the tone and Sparx felt a flicker of shame in his heart. __**do not be ashamed, for it is who you are and you cannot change it, nor should you**__ the Power Primate comforted him __**but as much as we must hold to ourselves, there are times when we must accept the truth, no matter what it may be. **__**H**__ere he was given a significant look and the pilot offered a sheepish grin, finding it surprisingly easy to relax in the presence of the Power Primate. __**Rest now my child, and clear your mind of your troubles.**__ And the ape faded into nothingness and Sparx fell into a dreamless sleep..._

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><p><strong>Okay guys I think I'm gonna cut this off here, I still have a lot planned and I don't want to make this super long, so this is gonna be the end of Chapter 2. Pretty please review, I love reviews. Constructive Criticism, ideas, questions, pretty much anything besides flames. <strong>

**Thanks for reading**

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><p>Chiro faded in and out of reality, steadily growing more aware. Eventually he was lucid enough to count as awake and Chiro groaned aloud. When he was young and still in need of a nightlight the boy had once attempted to plug in the device with one finger still on the metal prongs. His whole arm had been engulfed in a tingling numb ache that had lasted for nearly thirty minutes. The same unpleasant sensation now wrapped around his entire body, with an added headache.<p>

As much as he wanted to return to the painless land of dreams, Chiro opened his eyes and examined the room he was now in. It was decidedly different from where he used to be. His half-asleep mind vaguely thought that might be a bad sign. Of course it could be the same room, the lights were off before but he was certain he had been moved.

A thin metal stand held vigil by his side, hanging from one of the hooks at the top was a clear bag containing some translucent liquid with a thin tube extending from the bottom. Chiro's eyes followed the winding path of the tube to where it disappeared into his wrist.

"...he was severely dehydrated and mildly malnourished, I have him on an IV, but I'm worried about the electrical burn on his hand," A voice with a British accent drew nearer throughout the speech and Chiro blinked and tried to open his eyes again, but found them too heavy to bother with doing so, and deciding that he was safe with the man with the British accent and whoever he was talking to, he returned to the realm of sleep.

When the boy opened his eyes again, the headache was, thankfully, absent. He was in the same room as before, laid on a medical bed with an IV in the skin of his wrist. Chiro sat up slowly, holding his head when a wave of vertigo struck.

"You are awake." A steady voice noted from the shadows.

Chiro jumped and turned his head to the source of the voice. "Who are you?" he asked, turning the rest of his body to face the shadowed corner. Realizing that he could be speaking to the owner of the mechanical sentinel he wondered if he was welcome here or not. "I'm sorry if I was trespassing." he said quietly.

The voice gently spoke from the shadows once again, "Do not worry, no harm was done." The voice hesitated, as if questioning what it was about to reveal. "In fact you have done us a great favor by coming here."

Chiro jerked back in surprise, "How?" he asked curiously, pondering the implications of the statement.

"All will be explained in time, but for now-" the voice was cut off as the double doors that made up the entrance to the room opened and a strange being entered the room.

"Hey Antauri, has he-" the feminine voice cut off when its owner realized that she was being stared at with something akin to horror. "Uh, hi."

Chiro stared in silent shock at the creature that stood before him, a large head connected to a small body impossibly bright yellow fur and metallic arms and legs, bulbous pink eyes a tail, there was no question as to what he was facing.

A monster.

Like the ones his father had told him about when he was younger, the ones that used to attack the city. Now it was clear what the voice in the shadows had been talking about when it said he had helped them. He must have stumbled upon the monster's nest and now they could break loose and destroy Shuggazoom city, and it was all his fault. Chiro did the only thing he could. With a fearful cry, he leaped from the bed, ripping out the IV (who knows what was in it, maybe they were turning _him_ into a monster!) The frightened boy sprung past the yellow monster, keeping as far a distance as possible and raced down the hall that was on the other side of the door.

Nova stood frozen in shock for long enough for Antauri to step out of the shadows, looking rather bothered at the boy's apparent terror, "That is what I was trying to avoid," he sighed, but gave Nova a look that said he knew she didn't do it on purpose and did not blame her.

Still the yellow warrior felt the need to apologize "Sorry Antauri, I didn't realize he was awake."

Antauri gave a forgiving smile and simply stated, "I know you did not mean to Nova, but for now we must find the boy and calm him." Nova nodded and called to Otto and Gibson, the pair agreed to help, though not without some ribbing at their sister's expense, and the Hyperforce set out to find the boy.

Chiro ran frantically through the winding halls of the monster's nest, searching desperately for the exit, but the doorway eluded him. With the lights on it was easier to navigate, but he was still hopelessly lost in the maze. Despair filled his heart and the boy felt the sting of tears in his eyes, with an angry swipe of his arm, Chiro cleared his vision, but he still knew in his heart that he wouldn't be getting out of this place any time soon. With the new feeling of hopelessness weighing him down, exhaustion quickly crept over the boy and he slowed until he was walking down the seemingly endless hallway.

Eventually he gave up trying to escape and found a space beside a pod built into the wall to curl up in, allowing feelings of misery and self-pity welling up in him. Chiro was so wrapped up in his woes that he failed to notice the footsteps drawing near him until they were right outside of his hiding place.

"Hey," a voice said softly beside him, "are you okay?"

Chiro jumped and looked with frightened eyes at a green version of the yellow monster he had come across earlier, behind it stood the yellow one, along with two others, colored blue and black. "We aren't gonna hurt you," the yellow one soothed, but she did not move forward to the same level as the green one beside him, perhaps not wanting to crowd the frightened boy.

"Indeed" agreed the blue monster, a male by its voice, same as the green one.

"We did not mean to frighten you," the black one assured. It was apparently also male, leaving the yellow one the only female, unless there were more. He didn't want to think of a possible monster army hiding somewhere in the labyrinth. Summoning his courage, he stared the black one directly in the eyes and with as much venom as he could muster, hissed a threat at the monsters, "You won't destroy Shuggazoom. I won't let you."

The response was immediate, but rather contrary to what Chiro was expecting, the green monster looked confused, the yellow one was clearly shocked, and perhaps a bit...proud? The blue one had a thoughtful expression, and the black one's face was unreadable, though something told Chiro that he was impressed.

"Destroy Shuggazoom? Why would we want to do that?" the yellow monster questioned.

"Yeah, it's our job to protect Shuggazoom!" the green one piped up.

"You are mistaken as to our intentions," the black one stated calmly. The blue monster beside him stayed silent, its thoughtful expression not changing.

"That's just what you would say, but my dad told me all about you monsters, and I won't let you destroy Shuggazoom!" Chiro said defiantly. In truth, his father had rarely talked about the monsters that had attacked the city in his youth, but Chiro felt no need to tell them that.

"I believe you have confused us with our enemy, we are the Hyperforce, and as Otto said, it is our duty to guard Shuggazoom against these monsters that you think we are," The blue one explained, "surely if you know all about the monster attacks you will have heard of us." The four beings looked at Chiro expectantly, hoping for a flicker of recognition that would prove that they had not faded out of history. The child before them appeared uncertain as to whether or not to believe Gibson.

"What's goin' on out here?" Sparx asked sleepily as he stumbled from his room, rubbing his eyes and yawning. The two groups froze, the monkeys because they were certain that the boy would not have a good reaction to finding out he was even more severally outnumbered, and Chiro because they were correct. The boy looked at each of them, his eyes widening further as he mentally counted them.

"Easy there, we're not going to hurt you. Back up Otto, you're crowding him," Nova said, pulling her green brother over to stand beside her. Chiro shrank back, his breathing growing more rapid, though their numbers had only increased by one, this was proof that there were more hiding in the pods, and perhaps elsewhere as well. They were at a standstill, Chiro and the creatures staring at each other, neither making a move so as not to provoke a negative response.

Finally, Nova broke the silence, "This is just Sparx, and I'm Nova, this is Otto, Gibson and Antauri" She introduced them, pointing to each of her team members as she spoke their name. "Who are you?"

Chiro looked deeply into her eyes, "I'm Chiro," he answered, his face still holding doubt. "How many of you are there?"

Here Antauri stepped forward "What you see here are all the members of the Hyperforce, Chiro," the black monkey soothed.

"Now how about we go to the kitchen? I'm starved!" Otto piped up. The others laughed, and even Chiro allowed himself a small chuckle. They all began following the green monkey, Chiro being careful to stay at the back of the group just in case.

"C'mon runt, if you don't get there soon Otto's bound to get all of the good stuff," Sparx said gruffly, though not as venomously as the last time he had referred to Chiro as a 'runt', something Antauri took careful note of.

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><p><strong>That's where I think I'm gonna leave this chapter guys. I hope you liked it (but if you review I'll know you liked it *hint hint*) and speaking of reviews, thanks again to Winterbornbree and also to Tauria for reviewing. The next chapter should <strong>**have a little more action in it, and depending on the length, it will be either the last or second to last chapter of this thing. Have a wonderful day and thank you for reading.**

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><p>Chapter 4: Doom<p>

_**Happy Valentines Day everyone, since I'm single and have nothing better to be doing *nudges homework off desk* You guys get a new chapter. Speaking of you guys, I want to thank you all for reading this story and giving my first ever fic 145 views and 77 visits, I never thought that anyone would want to read this, but thank you for doing so. Thanks again to the three wonderful people who have reviewed this story, you are all three wonderful and I thank you for sharing your opinions with me. Well, Without further ado, here is Chapter 4: Doom:**_

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><p>Far away, in an empty region of space an impossibly large craft lurked in the shadows of an asteroid field. Upon closer inspection, one would be able to see that it was entirely made of bone, though how all of the material was gathered is left to the imagination, it was a foreboding structure nonetheless. For this was the Citadel of Bone, know throughout the cosmos as a herald of war and death, for it housed the greatest enemy to the peace of the universe since the defeat of the dark ones, The Skeleton King.<p>

As deeply rooted in evil this ominous structure was, any ships that unknowingly passed by it did so in complete safety. For the evil one housed within its walls was locked away in a healing sleep,as he had been since his last battle with the wretched monkeys that made up the Hyperforce, the only beings in the universe that dared to oppose him and did so successfully.

The only life in the hulking craft, was the ever loyal Skeleton King Droid, who stood watchful vigil over his master's healing body. Everything was still except for the automaton, who regularly patrolled the hallways for any change. But for now, it was stationed at its master's side, and had a perfect view, of the red eyes that snapped open after their long sleep. The Skeleton King was awoken.

It wasn't until well after Chiro had gone to bed that the monkey team dared to meet in the common room, knowing that Sparx was bound to have more opinions to loudly voice, and the team did not wish to wake their young guest. They sat in silence, none of them wanting to begin the conversation that they would have to undertake, but they all knew it had to be done, and so after a few minutes, Sparx spoke up.

"If we're just gonna sit here all night, then I'm gonna go to bed" the red monkey declared. The others looked around nervously, daring someone else to begin the conversation, eventually, all of their gazes landed on Antauri.

"Have you changed your mind at all my friend?" the dark furred monkey asked.

Sparx sighed, "I had the pleasure of having a 'chat' with the Power Primate" he confided. The others looked surprised, it wasn't often that any of them were directly contacted by the Power Primate, even Antauri seemed surprised.

"What did it say my friend?" Antauri asked gently.

"It said that the runt is the chosen one and that I need to get over it," He paraphrased. "But I still don't like the idea of sending him into battle."

Antauri nodded calmly, "none of us do, but that is why we are here, to defend him and teach him to defend himself, among other things."Sparx sighed, but did not argue further.

"How about we finish this tomorrow?" Otto said with a yawn. Everyone agreed and the Hyperforce went to bed.

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><p>They were on their way, soon the Hyperforce would be destroyed and the dark ones freed. All was going according to plan, Doom was coming, and the cosmos would be wrapped eternal darkness.<p>

_Chiro stood alone, surrounded by a darkness so deep that no light could ever pierce it. Familiar laughter echoed around him, closer now than ever before. A figure formed itself from the darkness, standing several feet taller than him, a sceptre clutched in its fist. __You are nothing but a child!__ It hissed __A poor helpless boy, and I will destroy you__. Fear latched its poisonous talons deep into Chiro's heart, despair and hopelessness whispered into his ears, his heart raced and his breath came out in shuddering gasps, but he couldn't _move_. Panic and a black ooze kept him trapped as the figure stalked forward, laughing manically as it took the few steps to stand directly in front of him. It raised the staff, prepared to strike him down._

_and then it happened. Pure animalistic __r_age _became a fire in his chest and it burned away the black ooze, leaving the boy free to run, but he didn't, Chiro stood before the figure, green fire raging around him, "__what!?__"__ it screamed. __**You shall not prevail **__a deep voice resounded around him, seeming to come from within his very heart. The figure shrieked and faded into nothingness before his very eyes, __**now sleep young one, for you have much to do in the morning**__. And Chiro knew no more..._

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><p>Chiro was the last to wake the next morning and came down the tubes just as the others were sitting down to breakfast. "Hey Chiro, we were just about to go get you" Nova greeted him, setting a plate at the remaining seat of the table and indicating for him to sit.<p>

"Thanks Nova," Chiro said, quickly getting over his sleepiness at the prospect of food. Everyone passed dishes of eggs, bacon, pancakes and sausage until they had been emptied of their contents by each member of the Hyperforce and Chiro, though Sparx had to be kicked under the table to pass things to Chiro.

Everyone was almost finished when alarms blared throughout the Super Robot, the monkeys reactions were instantaneous. They leaped from the table without a word and ran from the kitchen, leaving Chiro to scramble after them confusedly. The boy caught up with them in the main room, each monkey fiddling with a different button or knob with a screen in front of it. "What was that?" Chiro asked breathlessly.

"Nothing good," Sparx stated grimly "you're gonna need to get up to your room, we'll handle this." The red monkey promptly shoved Chiro into the orange tube that stood with the others along the wall and pushed the controls, sending Chiro speeding up several levels. When the dizzily fast ride came to a stop, Chiro found himself alone on the training room floor that he had been shown the previous night when the Hyperforce demonstrated their battle moves and had even shown him how to operate the control panel. Chiro was entirely unprepared when a black and white,_thing_ came up the elevator, and was frozen in shock when it lifted a mace (which seemed to sprout directly from its arm) and prepared to bring the weapon down on him

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><p><strong>valentines day cliffhanger! Sorry, not sorry. I will have the resolution up very soon, have a wonderful valentines day!<strong>

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><p>Chapter 5: The Dream of Light<p>

**Goodness, I didn't mean to leave y'all hanging for so long. The weekend was really busy, sorry. I'm also gonna have a lot less time to write so stories and uploads will probably be a lot slower, you know, that whole school thing. Anyway, I want to thank all of you for reading this story and I hope you enjoy Chapter 5: The Dream of Light**

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><p>By the time Sparx had returned, the formless and the rest of the team had split up to cover more ground. Antauri had stayed in the control room and was battling several of the Skeleton King's servants.<p>

"Where is Chiro?" Antauri asked when Sparx returned without the boy.

"I have him holed up in the training room, hopefully nothing will get up to that level." The red monkey explained, Antauri nodded, but did not say anything else as a formless swung wildly at him, the minion was no match for a master of the Power Primate and quickly fell into a puddle of black sludge.

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><p>On a different floor, Nova and Otto finished off the last formless of the pack that they had encountered. With a look around himself, the green mechanic noticed the large amounts of destruction that their battle had caused and sighed, "I'm going to have to fix all of this," he noted without his usual cheerful tone. Otto placed the plastic cover of a button back over its sensor on the control panel and turned to rejoin Nova, who gave him sympathetic looks.<p>

"If you want, I could help you Otto," Nova offered kindly as they moved back towards the elevator's that would take them to the next level as they had taken care of all the formless there. The group turned the last corner and arrived before the multicolored tubes just in time to see a black formless race up one.

"Where is it going?" Nova wondered. Her brother gave no answer, but the monkeys silently agreed that whatever it was doing, would definitely not be good.

* * *

><p>Chiro backed away from the two beings, his eyes wide with fear, the terrified boy tripped on the rim of one of the training pillars and fell onto his back, from this position, he used his legs to push himself further away from his looming demise. But the blow never fell, instead the creature exploded into black scum which dripped down the walls in slow rivulets. Nova stood where the monster once had, her enlarged fists still held at the ready, Otto flanked her, her green brother's saws whirring the duo realized the area was secure, they lowered their weapons and relaxed their stances.<p>

"You okay Chiro?" Otto asked, stepping forward to help Chiro up.

"Yeah," Chiro assured him, upon regaining his feet, the boy shook himself off.

"C'mon, we've gotta help Antauri and Sparx" Nova urged, leading the trio towards the downstairs, they joined the battle with Antauri and Sparx. The two newcomers flawlessly stepping into the rhythm of the battle. Chiro hid himself in the shadows where one of the overhead lights had been taken out by an errant attack. Each monkey fought until there was only four formless left, or so the Hyperforce thought, another monster appeared seemingly out of nowhere and charged directly for Sparx, the red monkey was too intent on his one-on-one battle to notice and the others in the same state. The formless readied its attack, the blow aimed to fall on Sparx's unguarded back. "Sparx! BEHIND YOU!" Chiro shouted warning just in time, the fierce monkey leaped into the air, and the formless' sneak attack fell on its comrade instead of its original target, and Sparx was able to land a hard enough hit from the air to dissolve the remaining formless. The rest of the team had likewise finished their own battles, looked to their red brother, who was entirely focused on Chiro.

"_you saved my life_" he murmured, and looked his savior directly in the eyes, "Thanks, kid."

* * *

><p>They gathered in the infirmary where Gibson (who had been assigned to the floors above where Chiro had been) patched up the team and checked over Chiro as Antauri explained about the Skeleton King and his many evils.<p>

"And you guys fight him? Just the five of you?" Chiro asked, wonder evident in his voice.

Antauri hesitated, glancing around the now silent group, the atmosphere became heavy and Chiro got the feeling that the black monkey was about to say something important. "...Not _only_ the five of us Chiro..." he began. The rest of the team exchanged worried looks, though Chiro was so focused on the mystic that he didn't notice them. "You see, I am only the second in command, we are missing our leader..." Chiro felt a niggling in the back of his mind, that odd sensation from when he had first discovered the robot returning. "Where is he?" the boy ventured. And again the boy found himself locked in the gaze of one of the Hyperforce as they spoke what felt like something profound, but unlike Sparx's message, this one he knew would finally reveal his fate. "Our leader is standing right in front of me."

Silence descended upon the room as everyone looked at the boy to gauge his reaction. "I'm going for a walk" he choked out, and ran from the room.

* * *

><p>Chiro exited the robot's foot, and turned to walk around to its side, he was surprised that the monkeys hadn't caught up with him yet. He stumbled as his foot caught on something, a familiar can rattled before him as he regained his balance. Chiro growled as his confusion suddenly flashed into anger, and gave the can a vicious kick, deciding that it would be a good vessel for his sudden rage. As it flew farther away, the boy followed after it, deciding that the piece of aluminum hadn't learned its lesson. He continued to abuse the can, thinking to himself.<p>

_How am _I _supposed to be their leader? I'm just a kid! I can't do anything! _The container rattled before him as that strange awareness whispered to him faintly **...your destiny. **Another fierce growl ripped from his throat and he kicked the can into the air. _ITS NOT! __it can't be. I'm just a dumb kid, what can I do?_

"Whoa, easy there," a voice interrupted his self-depreciating thoughts. Chiro looked up and noticed the girl who had spoken

"Sorry," he muttered, turning away, not wanting to talk to anyone. The girl however, seemed to have other plans, as her steps matched his. "What do you want? I already said sorry!" he snapped.

The girl held up her hands in surrender, "Chill there dude, I just wanted to see if you needed help, but I guess you don't need any, after all, you taught this can a lesson" she joked, holding up the aforementioned item. Chiro didn't allow himself to smile, and scoffed, increasing his pace in an attempt to loose her. Once again she matched his pace.

"I'm Grace, what's your name?" she asked, apparently not content to travel with him in silence

"Chiro" he answered gruffly, not looking up from his brooding.

"Its a nice day out" Grace noted. Chiro grunted, determined to not respond any more."Of course it always nice this time of year," Silence greeted the observation. "But it almost looks like rain." Chiro sighed, but kept his silence. "So, Chiro, where ya' headed?"

"What does it matter?" he snapped, lifting his head to glare at her.

"It doesn't really matter, I'll go with you wherever it is,"

"Why?"

"because no one who's like this should have to be alone"

Chiro stopped, and turned to face her, " What do you mean?" he asked. Grace smiled gently and gave him a knowing look.

"You're upset" She stated as if that answered everything

"So?" he asked scowling.

"Sometimes it helps to talk with someone," Grace offered, and lead him to a couple of stones where they could sit. . The last traces of the anger he had been trying so hard to hold onto faded away, and Chiro was left with his fear and disbelief in himself. Tears stung in his eyes, and he told her the entire story. Grace listened quietly, nodding quietly, but not interrupting. Once the tale was finished, Chiro sat silently on his rock, waiting for her to say something.

"So you don't think that you can be their leader because your just a kid?" Grace summarized. Chiro nodded silently, a comforting hand rested on his shoulder. "Come on, walk with me," Grace invited and Chiro wordlessly trailed after her. They walked in silence for awhile, and Chiro vaguely noticed how deep into the zone of wasted years they were getting, but decided to find his way back later, if he went back...

"Destiny is a funny thing" Grace said without preamble."Our fates are often decided without our consent, or input. And a lot of the time, we don't think we can go down the path that is laid out for us. Everyone is always trying to escape their fate, but we never really do. Its always there, waiting for us."

Chiro stopped and looked at her, "So what, I'm stuck with this, I have to do it even if I don't want to, am I just a puppet for fate? Can I still be just me, is there a _me _at all? are my feelings fake? Am I just a part of some big plan that I have no say in?" He questioned, feeling panic rising in his chest, but it was soothed by the compassionate smile Grace gave,and he continued walking, subconsciously taking the lead and taking them down another path.

"No, nothing like that Chiro, we do have free will, Fate has a way of not coming to us, but letting us come to it, and every path we take somehow leads us to where we really need to be, even if we can't see it that way." Chiro pushed aside a bush and continued down the path, seeing a clearing ahead.

"Who are you anyway?" he asked, shielding his eyes from the sunlight that hadn't been able to make it into the shelter of the trees.

"Oh, I'm just a traveler," Grace answered quietly, seeming almost like she was getting farther away.

Once his eyes adjusted, Chiro looked beside himself, and found that Grace hadn't followed him into the sunlight, he returned to the shade under the trees, but she wasn't there either, in her place, stood a familiar, now dented can. With a puzzled expression, Chiro picked up the can and looked around, but he didn't see his companion, he wandered back into the meadow, looking down at the can that somehow kept showing up. The boy looked up and realized with a gasp, that this was the clearing where he had found the Super Robot, and sure enough, there stood the metal guardian that housed the Hyperforce, still keeping its vigil.

Chiro smiled to himself, "we choose our own path huh?" he asked the air. He glanced once more into the woods, pondering the missing traveler. "Go on, your fate awaits, my path, however, continues, good luck Chiro" the wind whispered. The leader of the Hyperforce stepped into the robot once more, smiling as he thought to himself, _I am home_.

* * *

><p>Many battles later, Chiro had gained confidence and fighting skills, and the Hyperforce had finally moved into Shuggazoom city, accepted by its citizens, however, there was one chore left to to. "I know this looks bad team," he said to the monkeys gathered behind him, and then groaned when he realized just how bad it looked, "But the Super Robot must be clean."<p>

* * *

><p><em><strong>And with that, dearest readers, comes the end of How it Began. I Thank each and every one of you who have read, reviewed, followed, favorited, or even looked at this story. I hope you will join me on my next story, but when that will be posted I have no idea. Once again, thank you all for being here and reading this to the very end, As much as I would love to sit here rambling for as long as possible, this too, must end, and so I leave you all to other fictions...for now.<strong>_

**January 8, 2016: The above note still stands, even to this date, this is my most looked at story, and I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read it, despite the grammar mistakes and such. (though there are hopefully less of them now.)**


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